Shiver
by LlamasInShortPants
Summary: Just your typical Max going into Heat story... or is it?
1. Default Chapter

**Chapter 1 – Rotten ****Denmark**

**"Yeah, yeah, I got it the first four hundred and two times you said it." ****Alec**** made no effort to hide his annoyance as he leaned against the table where ****Logan**** was tapping on his computer. They were in the main control building at ****Terminal****City**** and ****Logan**** was pretending he was important.**

**"Well, it's crucial," As usual ****Logan**** was infuriatingly calm, "So listen for the four hundred and third time. Under absolutely no circumstances are the two of you to pull this job tonight. I don't care how perfect and ideal it may look. I don't care if all the guards are drunk and the front door is wide open. This is reconnaissance _only_. Our profit will triple if we wait until tomorrow night to do the heist…"**

**Alec**** shook his head. Listen to this guy, spewing orders as if he had some kind of authority in ****Terminal****City****; throwing around words like 'job', 'reconnaissance', and 'heist'. Sometimes (okay, a lot of the time) he wanted to smack the other man upside the exoskeleton and-**

**A cold shiver snaked suddenly down his spine. The fine hairs on the back of his neck rose and he was immediately aware of every sound and smell in the room. Alec didn't realize he'd straightened up, body instinctively tensed for attack, until Logan pushed back from the desk, also standing. "What is it? What's wrong?"**

**"I don't know." Slowly ****Alec**** turned in a full circle. "Something's off." There were only a few people milling around in the room, performing odd jobs, all of whom he knew. Max had entered and was talking with one of the anomalies, gesticulating to one of the motorcycles. He let his gaze sweep over her closely, but her body language was natural, nothing appeared to be wrong.**

**"Huh." He rubbed the back of his neck absently and rolled his shoulders to loosen to the tense muscles. "Guess I'm just tired."**

**Logan was watching him closely so Alec grinned and slapped him on the shoulder, "Don't look so worried, doesn't get much safer than good old TC now does it."**

**"I suppose so." Logan took another look around, not quite as willing to dismiss the instincts of a genetically engineered soldier.**

**"Just a… whacha-ma-call-it," ****Alec**** snapped his fingers, "Ghost walking on my tombstone, or whatever."**

**Logan**** lifted an eyebrow, "Riiiight."**

**"Why are we talking about tombstones?" ****Max**** came and stood next to him at the table.**

**Alec didn't hear Logan's response, he was studying ****Max****'s face. He knew she was hot of course, they'd been designed that way – but he'd never really taken the time to _look_ at her before. She was a little too thin these days, the stress of running TC and carrying on her "normal" life simultaneously was a bit much, even for a Manticore alumni. **

**"Hey." A lightning fast smack upside his head jarred him from his strangely concerned thoughts, "What's wrong with you?"**

**He blinked rapidly, "Dunno." He rubbed his hand briskly over his hair and shook his head as if to clear it. "I feel weird. Maybe I'm coming down with something."**

**Max**** frowned, "We don't get sick."**

**"Eventually we're going to, Maximillian." ****Alec**** shoved his hands in his pockets and bounced restlessly on the balls of his feet. "Viruses and bacteria evolve, Manticore couldn't make us immune to strains that haven't developed yet." He perked up, "Hey, maybe I have a rare disease from deep within the Amazon that's slowly destroying my body and infecting everyone arou-"**

**"You _are_ a rare disease." Max broke in, but she still looked worried.**

**Alec couldn't help but grin, being sick would be worth it if ****Max**** were actually worried about him. He attempted to cough pitifully. Maybe he could even get a deathbed apology from her for being such a bitch.**

**"You have to be in top form for tomorrow's job," She continued severely, "It's too important for you to be barfing and sneezing all over the place."**

**"As touched as I am by your concern, Maxie, I probably just need some sleep." He smiled in anticipation, "Yep, a good ten hours of sleep – just what the doctor ordered."**

**"You don't have ten hours." Logan said absently, still typing on his computer. "You have to leave in two for the warehouse."**

**"Then I'll see you folks in an hour and 57 minutes." ****Alec**** stuck his hands in his pockets and strolled out of the building. He didn't really intend to sleep, he felt too keyed up, but he knew it would annoy ****Max**

**As he stepped outside he drew in a deep breath of slightly smoggy, foul scented air. Strangely, it seemed to clear his head. He felt the muscles in his back relax and a tension he hadn't realized ease in his gut.**

**He strolled in the general direction of his apartment. Maybe he really was coming down with something.**

**An hour and 56 minutes later**

**"Goddamn him. Goddamn him. Goddamn him." Max paced furiously around ****Logan****'s desk. "This is _exactly_ the kind of stupid stunt he'd pull, risking messing up the timing on a job where the timing is everything. _Goddamn__him_."**

**"If you want some help expanding your vocabulary, Maxie, I'd be glad to teach you some of the more colorful phrases that they didn't teach us in Common Verbal Usage."**

**He walked into the main TC bunker as if he didn't have a care in the world. ****Max**** glared at him as he stopped next to the desk. Then her glare turned thoughtful as she studied him more closely. He was grinning, as usual, but there was something strained around the edges. His eyes were actually shifting around restlessly and he was back to bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.**

**"Are you really okay?" She asked seriously.**

**"I'm fine." He said testily, glancing down at ****Logan****, who was also watching him. "What's with the third degree?"**

**Max wasn't sure herself, she rarely paid close enough attention to ****Alec**** to actually notice stupid little things like tenseness in his eyes. For all she knew, it was always there. She shook her head in disgust, with both of them. "Nothing. Let's just go get this over with."**

**"Fine with me."**** He muttered and they left the building.**

**Max**** and ****Alec**** didn't speak as they stowed their bikes in some trees and walked the quarter-mile to the warehouse. Their silence wasn't because they needed to maintain quiet to avoid detection – they were just pissed at each other. Neither was entirely certain _why_ they were pissed, but since it was a fairly normal state of being for them, they didn't question it.**

**The warehouse came into sight over a gentle sloping hill. They were on the outskirts of ****Seattle**** it could dubiously be called the country, since there wasn't much in the way of industry. Except a warehouse full of lots of guns.**

**"Mole really wanted to come." Alec said softly, a half smile lifting the corner of his mouth when they saw the size of the building. "He was almost whining. Gotta tell ya - seeing a grown lizard-man whine is not a pretty sight."**

**Max**** almost smiled. But she turned it into a frown – better not to encourage him.**

**"You take east, I'll take west." She said instead. "And nothing stupid, you hear me? We can't tip them off to the fact that we're here, they'll just increase security during Wednesday's delivery and that'll make this twice as hard."**

**"Okay. And ****Max****."**** Alec put a hand on her shoulder, staring so deeply and intensely into her eyes that for a moment her stomach got wobbly. "Be careful." He said in a remarkable imitation of ****Logan**

**Her hiss of rage was lost to the air, because he was gone in the next second, disappearing into the dark.**

**O.C.**** and ****Logan**** were sitting at a small table in Crash later that night. ****Logan**** sipped at a beer and kept glancing impatiently at his watch; ****O.C.**** was exchanging smiles and eye contact with a tall redhead by the pool table.**

**"Somebody get me a beer. _Now_." Max slammed a chair down at their table, startling everyone. **

**"Somebody get her a personality. _Now_." ****Alec**** slammed a chair down on the opposite side of the table and straddled it. They glared at each other.**

**"Don't tell me," ****O.C.**** lifted her eyebrows and glanced between the two, "Boo did ****Alec**** steal your doll again?"**

**"So what happened?" ****Logan**** interjected, heading off the imminent name-calling. "How'd it go?"**

**"Fine.**** Peachy. Just dandy." ****Max**** downed the rest of O.C.'s beer and slammed it on the table. "The shipment arrives at the warehouse at 0200 Thursday morning. They're gonna have double the usual guard, bringing the grand total to thirty men and a shitload of arms and amo."**

**"Thirty seems about right." ****Logan**** mused, "Can the two of you handle them alone?"**

**Alec**** snorted into the mug of frothy beer that had suddenly appeared.**

**Max ignored him, "Thirty's no sweat. We have surprise on our side – to their way of thinking nobody in their right mind would rip off ****Cass****Neightly****, they won't be expecting it at all."**

**"And you're still sure you want to go around pissing off big Mob bosses?" ****O.C.**** asked in her typical sarcastic way.**

**"Nothin' he can do about it." ****Alec**** shrugged, "He'll never know who did it. And on the off chance he does find out, he'll be apple pie to take out."**

**"And it's cocky attitudes like that that'll get us killed." Max jumped all over it, "It's when you start thinking you're invincible that you make stupid mistakes. We're not bulletproof or bombproof, ****Alec****."**

**Logan**** frowned, "Apple pie?"**

**"Yeah, you know, easy as apple pie. Or something like that." ****Alec**** didn't take his gaze off ****Max**** as he answered ****Logan****. "You know what, Maxie, I can't imagine why I came here. Being in your company the past few hours was enough to last me several lifetimes. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go home and drink myself into a stupor – with any luck by tomorrow I'll have forgotten today."**

**He stood and moved around the table. As he passed Max her hand shot out and grabbed his jacket sleeve. Her looked pointedly at his arm but she ignored him. "Be at ****Logan****'s tomorrow morning; not evening, _morning_. We have stuff to prepare for Wednesday."**

**"For someone who isn't my commanding officer, you sure give a lot of orders." He said softly, "Let go."**

**She held his gaze for a long, challenging moment and then rose slowly, tauntingly, and twisted the jacket tighter in her grip. "Or what, ****Alec****, you gonna trip and fall on me?"**

**In half a second her arm was twisted behind her back, her body pressed flush against his. He'd moved fast for a human but slow for a transgenic, still it was enough to start drawing attention. People began to turn around and a low hum started to buzz through the building.**

**Logan rose quickly, "****Max****Alec****."**** He hissed. They either didn't hear him or ignored him; he was betting on the former, they appeared to be locked in their own world.**

**"I would have thought you'd learned your lesson the first time we tangled." ****Max**** couldn't figure out why she was breathing hard. Or why her blood was tingling up and down her body. From anger, she decided, staring into eyes that were almost black with an unnamed emotion.**

**"You cheated the first time," He slowly tightened his grip, bringing her face even closer to his. "This time I know the rules."**

**"There are no rules."**

**"Exactly."**

**Logan glanced around uneasily, the crowd was growing. O.C. was on her feet, looking pissed, but she was as helpless as he was to do anything. They absolutely couldn't fight here and to draw more people with a scene was only slightly less undesirable.**

**"He giving you a hard time, Miss?" A tall, burly man in corduroys and a polo shirt stepped up next to the two. He was a few inches shorter than ****Alec****, but had a good thirty pounds on the transgenic.**

**Max**** heard the question and registered it but was having trouble concentrating. She could hear her breath, hear ****Alec****'s breath and the heat radiating off of him was distracting her. She shifted slightly, arching her back to bring her breasts into closer contact with his chest. His eyes dilated and liquid heat burned a slow trail down to her core.**

**"Let go of her, man, you're hurting her." Cord Man reached out and put a hand on ****Alec****'s shoulder. Logan flinched in anticipation for the strike, but it never came, in fact the contact seemed to break whatever trance had locked ****Max**** and ****Alec**** together. They both jerked, blinking rapidly and then he abruptly let go of her arm. They stepped quickly away from each other, exchanging suspicious looks. Alec shoved his hands in his pockets and hunched his shoulders, almost as if he was protecting himself. He glanced over at Original ****Cindy**** and ****Logan**** and they could both see the wary confusion in his eyes. "See ya." He mumbled and disappeared into the crowd that was also dispersing.**

**"Girl, what the hell was that about?" ****O.C.**** demanded of ****Max****Logan**** watched as she turned to them and he saw her swallow; he actually saw the effort she put into that one small motion.**

**"I'm gonna bounce." She said, her voice strangely rusty. "Got stuff to do."**

**"Max-" He began, but she was already gone, moving rapidly in the opposite direction ****Alec**** had gone.**

**There was silence for a moment.**

**"Shit." Original ****Cindy**** breathed, "Everyone around here is wound tighter than a yo-yo."**

**"You think they're more worried about pissing off ****Cass****Neightly**** than they're letting on?" ****Logan**** asked worriedly.**

**Before she could answer a husky, smokers voice spoke from behind them, "Interesting friends of yours."**

**They both turned to see the cat-eyed redhead from the pool table smiling behind them. ****O.C.**** returned smile smoothly but wondered for a worrying moment how much the girl had heard.**

**"Yeah, they got some issues to work out." She held out her hand, "Original ****Cindy****. This is ****Logan****. We're not together."**

**The redheads smile widened to something wicked, "I'm ****Sheena**** and I'm delighted to hear it."**

**Logan**** rolled his eyes. "I don't want to crap your style ****O.C.****, I'm gonna go get some sleep. See if you can find out what's bothering ****Max****."**

**O.C.**** didn't discourage him from going. Sheena motioned to a table, "Let me buy you a drink – it'll take away all your problems."**

**O.C.**** laughed, "In that case sugar, I'm gonna need more than one."**


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter 2 – Lady Disdain **

**The next day ****Alec**** stood in the elevator that lead to ****Logan****'s apartment. He absently watched as the numbers ticked smoothly higher. The thought of seeing ****Max**** in a few moments was strangely unnerving. The events of the night before were still an uneasy memory, even more than eight hours later. He wasn't entirely sure what had happened. It wasn't like him to lose his cool like that; and it wasn't like Max to, well to push it so hard. Sure she was kind of an emotional loose cannon, but when he pissed her off enough she usually just gave a verbal parting shot and left. Last night things had progressed past the verbal; Christ, they'd practically gone at it right in the middle of Crash and a room full of Ordinaries.**

**He shook his head and rubbed his eyes. It was strange how muddled his head was while everything was going on and yet how clear and bizarre the entire experience had seemed only moments after leaving the bar. Maybe he needed a vacation; a real live trip far away from the stress of TC, work and especially ****Max****Guevara****. Maybe he was experiencing that demon that the Ordinaries fussed over so much – stress.**

**The elevator doors opened onto ****Logan****'s floor and he stepped out. He was going to get along with her today if it killed him, he promised himself as he opened the front door.**

**"Where the goddamn hell have you been!?" The frigid blast of her voice could have made a polar bear shiver. ****Alec**** would have sworn he felt a cool draft waft by him.**

**He closed the door carefully behind him and walked into the living room. The usual assortment of characters sat around the coffee table – ****O.C.****Joshua**** and Sketchy on one couch; Mole and ****Dix**** on the other; and ****Logan**** at the computer.**

**"We are here for our weekly board meeting, are we not?" ****Alec**** asked, keeping his voice carefully bland. "They start precisely at ****one o'clock**** – I'm here two whole minutes early."**

**Max stalked towards him from her place by the window, "I told you to be here this morning, so that we could get our gear together for tomorrow night." She was fairly bristling with animosity and ****Alec**** realized with renewed amazement that his own anger was rising at an usual rate.**

**He took a deep breath and held it for a moment. You're going to get along with her, he reminded himself. But getting along and being her lapdog were two entirely different things.**

**"I thought you were joking." He replied nonchalantly and flung himself into a recliner.**

**"Joking!**** We almost came to blows over it!" Confusion flickered across her face for a millisecond and then was gone, "When I tell-"**

**"Enough!" Original ****Cindy**** raised her voice slightly and instantly commanded the entire rooms attention. "Let's move on. We have things to get done, remember?"**

**There was a long silence and then ****Logan**** calmly began to speak. "As long as tomorrow night goes well, we should be set with enough guns for awhile. Our food situation is going to get critical soon though and our cash flow is down to almost nothing. Any ideas?"**

**Alec**** slunk down in his chair and resolved not to say another word. He never did at these things anyway - give 'em long enough and they usually came to the right solutions on their own. If he were to suggest those same ideas though, ****Max**** would shut them down, so it was better to play mute. He let his head fall back and closed his eyes – maybe just a quick little nap…**

**"If you're bored Senior ****Alec****, please feel free to exit the premises at any time."**

**He came awake with a sudden jerk and opened his eyes immediately. Max stood between his outstretched legs, her gaze shooting fiery darts into him. He yawned deliberately and clasped his hands behind his head, smiling sleepily up at her thunderous expression and ignoring the ire that shot to the surface of his emotions.**

**"Not quite the face I was hoping to wake up to." He remarked.**

**"If we bore and disgust you that much, then really, don't let us keep you. Leave." She said between gritted teeth, "I'm sick of your snoring."**

**"I'm genetically incapable of snoring." He was finding his own jaw difficult to relax. "What the hell is your problem – is it that time of the month?"**

**Max**** braced her hands on the arms of his chair and shoved her face inches from his. "You're sleeping through my meeting – that is entirely unacceptable soldier. Either start contributing something or do me an immense favor and get out."**

**His gaze zeroed in on the lush lips that were only inches from his, slowly enunciating the last two words of her sentence. Her breath smelled incongruously of chocolate and he attributed the sudden hollowness of his stomach to hunger.**

**"Why the sudden bitch-mongering?"**** He snarled, "I've slept through nearly every other meeting and you didn't seem to notice or care."**

**"Would it kill you to actually contribute something or maybe give the topics a little thought? Is that just asking too much from your over-taxed brain, ****Alec****?"**

**He stood up so quickly that only her abnormal reflexes saved them from a painful collision.**

**"What the hell do you want from me?" He yelled, "You want me to say that TC needs to become more self-sufficient? That we need to start mass producing our own food rather than relying on the Ordinaries? That our cash flow is a relatively insignificant problem that we shouldn't be worrying about right now? Why? So that you can ignore and belittle me, Max? Is that why you're mad, is my silence depriving you of the opportunity to rag on me?"**

**"I don't know when you decided that you were so important," ****Max**** yelled right back, "But get over yourself, ****Alec****. You don't mean-"**

**"ENOUGH!" Original ****Cindy**** threw down the stack of papers in her hand and shot to her feet, anger turning her cheeks red. "I don't know what kind of moon is out but it is turning both of you into Werewolves!"**

**Alec**** reluctantly broke eye contact with ****Max**** to stare in amazement at O.C.**

**"_What_ are we turning into?" He asked.**

**Max turned and walked restlessly back to the window, staring out into the afternoon broodingly.**

**"It's a dumb ass human-type that turns hisself into a wolf at the full moon." ****O.C.**** kept her gaze on ****Max****. "Ya'll prob'ly have some kinda transgenic that looks like it."**

**O.C. stayed quiet a moment longer, making sure that the throbbing animosity in the room wouldn't explode again.**

**"I'm bailing." Alec stepped around her and headed for the door, "I don't know why I even bothered to get up."**

**They had been at Crash for almost an hour and a half and ****Max**** had hardly spoken four words. Those four had been directed at ****Sheena**** upon meeting her – then she'd lapsed into dedicated drinking and sullenness. Despite understanding the whole "lesbian" idea, Sketchy was still directing most of his comments to ****Sheena****'s, admittedly impressive, rack.**

**"So then I was like, dude, chill out, I was just sayin' hi to her, no need to get all Terminator on me-"**

**Sketchy's**** fascinating narrative was interrupted by the appearance of a certain green eyed blond in one of the empty chairs. It was with resignation that ****O.C.**** felt the tension that suddenly skyrocketed. ****Max**** sat up noticeably straighter.**

**"Alec, my man, good to see you've come to partake in the nectar of the God's."**** Sketchy and him exchanged one of those complicated male handshakes.**

**Alec turned to Sheena and flashed one of his most charming smiles, "Hey, I'm ****Alec****."**

**"I'm ****Sheena****." She smiled back and it was the same predatory expression that was on ****Alec****'s face. His smile grew into a grin – hunters recognized each other.**

**"You here with O.C.?"**

**She nodded.**

**His sigh was one of exaggerated dismay, "Figures I'd fall instantly in love with a lesbian."**

**"Next he'll tell you to feel free to make out with O.C. in front of him anytime you like." ****Max**** muttered.**

**"She's just jealous," ****O.C.**** interjected smoothly before ****Alec**** could retort, "She wants to make out with me."**

**Alec snickered and stood up, "I'm going to the bar, anybody need anything?"**

**As ****Alec**** moved through the crowd ****Sheena**** let her gaze linger on him, "Girl, I got me a Gold Star, but I just might trade it in for a taste of that." She murmured in her smoky voice.**

**"You sure couldn't get yourself a better deal," ****O.C.**** smiled, "Five gets me ten – that boy knows what he's doin'." **

**"Well, you'd be doomed to disappointment." ****Max**** practically snarled, "He might smile pretty, but the second he opens his mouth and words come out you'd be crying over the loss of your star."**

**Sheena watched Max for a moment, her smile growing until it tinged on wicked. "Sorry ****Max**** didn't mean to encroach on your territory."**

**Sketchy started laughing, choking on his beer. Max sat up quickly, the look on her face epitomizing horror. "Mine?! Hell no! He's not mine. He's the last person on the face of the earth that I would ever even begin to _want_ to be mine."**

**Sketchy chuckled and leaned close to ****Sheena****, "****Max**** and ****Alec**** just fight, you see. They don't even _like_ each other. That's why what you said is so funny."**

**Sheena just continued to smile, saying nothing. Alec and Logan returned to the table, each carrying two pitchers of beer.**

**"Fresh from the teat of ****Mary**** herself."****Alec**** said as he set them down.**

**"That's disgusting." ****Max**** sullenly poured herself another glass.**

**"Leave it to you to think that something as natural and beautiful as nursing is disgusting."**

**Max**** stared at him over the rim of her glass and set it down without drinking, "Where the _hell_ do you come up with this stuff. I swear to God, one of your classes was Random and Bewildering Comments 101."**

**He pretended to ponder her statement, "I don't think I had that one, bit I was in****Random and Bewildering _Insults_ 101. ****"Perhaps you're confusing the two?****" He suggested sweetly.**

**"You went to college, ****Alec****?" ****Sheena**** murmured, her eyebrows raised. "That's pretty difficult these days."**

**"Yeah, I guess you could call it a college, of sorts." Alec subsided back into his chair, realizing that this was a potentially dangerous subject.**

"Alec likes to think that a few night courses in remedial English qualifies as a 'college education." Max added, then pretended to sigh, "Sadly though, he really is the quintessential dumb blond."

**"Yup, that's me," ****Alec**** leaned forward as if to impart a deep secret, "A dumb blond. Clumsy too. Did I ever tell you kids about the time I fell off my ****bik****-****"**

**Max interrupted frostily, "Spare us."**

**The rest of the group stared at her and she felt a flush starting to creep up her neck. She was abruptly aware of the uncharacteristic tautness permeating her muscles. "What? It's a stupid story. No punch line."**

**No one said anything.**

**"Fine.**** I'm out of here." She swung up to leave.**

**"****Alas.****" muttered ****Alec****, and ruined her exit with a discreetly placed foot. She recovered her balance admirably, though her fist seemed to accidentally run into ****Alec****'s shoulder. **

**Logan**** watched the tense line of her back as she stalked towards the door and wondered.**

**_His warm, slightly callused hands were sliding up her legs, followed closely by a teasing tongue, dipping into the hollow behind her legs, nipping at the sensitive skin of her inner thigh. Her breath was fast and shallow, her fingers gripping the silky strands of golden hair like a life-line. Her whole body felt feverish and damp, ready to ignite and burn her to a crisp as that wonderful mouth came down right where she wanted it most…_**

**Max sat bolt upright in bed, gasping for air, disoriented by the pitch black of her room. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, willing her heart rate back down. The dream flashed behind her eyelids – wet mouths, hard hands, wicked, wicked green eyes and**

**All.**

**That.**

**Heat…**

**Her voice was a whisper. "Shit."**

**TBC**


	3. Chapter Three

**A/N: Let's pretend that ****Max**** didn't tell ****Logan**** about the Heat at the end of 'Meow'. It makes this chapter so much more fun )**

**Chapter 3 – Midsummer Madness**

**Max**** gave ****Logan**** her most charming smile. It kind of hurt to twist her face into such an unnatural position, but she didn't let her discomfort show. "We have a slight glitch in our plans Log, but it's not a big deal, okay. Don't freak out or anything."**

**Logan didn't reply, just stared at her vaguely.**

**"Don't give me that suspicious look." She said hotly. "I told you it's no big deal. You haven't even heard what the very small, nearly microscopic problem is and already you're glaring at me!"**

**He still didn't say a word.**

**"It's just a small heat, okay? A small one."**

**His lack of voice was beginning to bug her, so she grabbed the picture of him and bobbed it through the air in front of her face. Max raised her voice several octaves, "_Max, I don't like_-" She cleared her throat suddenly, "Oh, umm, I mean," She lowered it too a deep baritone, "_Max, I don't like the sound of this. What do you mean "heat", what is that?_"**

**She went back to her normal voice, "It's a small physiological side effect of having some feline DNA. That's all. No biggie."**

**She bobbed his picture more vigorously, "_Small physiological side effect? _****_Max_****_, tell me what you're talking about_****."**

**"See, it's like this…" She stared down at the picture. Her voice was very close to sad as she finished. "I would sell my soul for an hour in bed with ****Alec****. That's what I'm talking about."**

**Max**** threw the picture down in disgust and rhythmically bumped her head into the wall. She stood in the basement of ****Logan****'s apartment complex, next to her Ninja, talking to a picture because she was too afraid to go upstairs and face the real thing. God, how was she going to explain this to him? Was this even a good idea, going into his apartment when she was in this condition? She thought it would be okay, the Heat was still in the early stages and the thought of what would happen if she touched him was enough to cool any desire.**

**She stuck the picture inside her vest and headed for the elevator. She needed to talk to him before everyone else, especially ****Alec****, arrived.**

**When she walked into the apartment a few minutes later she found, to her surprise, ****O.C.**** already seated on the couch.**

**"Took you long enough, boo."**** She said, glancing up from her nail file, "You left an hour ago – take a detour or somthin'?"**

**"Just, uhh, just some errands."**** Max looked nervously at Logan, seated next to O.C.. There was the usual warm pleasure at the sight of him, but nothing primitive and scary.**

**"You okay, Max?" Logan cocked his head, "Are you sure transgenics can't get sick? I can't help but notice that you and ****Alec**** have both been acting a little odd."**

**She paced over the window and then back again. Maybe she could just do the job and then disappear for a couple of days. Tell them she was taking a vacation, or something, she'd earned it after all. She could control herself through tonight - then they wouldn't ever have to know the humiliating truth. ****Alec**** wouldn't ever know the humiliating truth. ****Christ****, for as long as he drew breath the bastard would never let her live it down.**

**"****Max****?" ****O.C.**** frowned when her friend didn't answer. "What's going on?"**

**Unfortunately the soldier in her was too ingrained – could she risk tonight's job and the lives of her co-workers to save her pride? Well… no. She grimaced – but it was such good pride.**

**"There may be a slight glitch." She began hesitantly. Instantly she had their full attention. "See, umm, last night I kind of went into, umm, heat."**

**O.C.'s**** mouth formed a perfect ****O.****Logan**** just looked bewildered.**

**"Heat?**** What does that mean?"**

**"Remember the feline DNA?" She said in a small voice. "Small side-effect."**

**His eyes widened and she could almost see the wheels turning behind his glasses. There was a long moment of silence.**

**"This explains so much." He muttered under his breath, talking to himself. "The past few days I knew something was off-"**

**"It only happened last night." Max said impatiently, "You couldn't have known before me."**

**"No, it didn't," ****Logan**** stood and walked around the couch, "Max the past two or three days you've been different – really tense and on edge. You and ****Alec**** both have been-"**

**"This has nothing to do with ****Alec****," She said quickly, "His feline DNA would be male, he doesn't go into heat. It won't affect the job what-so-ever."**

**Logan**** stared at her. "****Jesus****, you don't know about the heat. Max, it doesn't matter-"**

**"Excuse me?" It was O.C.'s turn to stand, "If you think for a second that we're letting you go out tonight girl, then you have been smokin' crack."**

**"Look, it'll be alright." She took a deep breath and tried to smile. "I'm only in the first stages of the cycle, I still have a good portion of my control. This job, getting these guns, is too important."**

**OC looked down-right incredulous. "Sugar, I have seen you in action, remember? Ain't no way I'm going for this."**

**"****Max****, listen to Original ****Cindy****, there's something you don't understand-"**

**"Look, I'm only part cat," ****Max**** argued as they heard the sound of the front door opening, "I'm still more human, so I'm not going to resort to some animalistic-" She cut herself off, her head whipping around towards the partition. ****O.C.**** watched in horrified fascination as something dark and primal shifted in her friend's eyes.**

**Alec**** stepped into the room whistling a complicated ****Gilbert**** and ****Sullivan**** number. ****Max**** slowly turned her entire body to face him and her mouth went completely dry. He was dressed in solid black – black jeans, a fitted black t-shirt and a black leather jacket. Just as quickly as the saliva had left her mouth, it returned in excess. God she could lick him up like chocolate.**

**Alec**** slowly stopped walking forward and abruptly stopped whistling. Everyone was staring at him. He glanced uncertainly at ****Logan****, who was looking pained; and then over at ****Max****. Then it hit him. Hit him like a hard right jab to the kidney, knocking the air from his lungs and causing a wave of dizziness to tilt the world. ****Alec**** grabbed the wall to steady himself and took a deep breath. Almost as soon as it had hit the dizziness was gone and everything was clear.**

**Perfectly, crystal, digitally clear.**

**He could hear her heart beat like it was his own, speeding up to meet the sudden increase in her breathing. Her lips had parted initially in shock, but the tongue that flicked out to moisten them had entirely different motivations. He met dark eyes liquid with surprise and a hot, carnal craving that a man would recognize even if he were dead.**

**Alec**** was not dead.**

**"****Max****." He had intended it to be a warning – of what, he didn't know. Instead her name came out more of a purr… a suggestion.**

**"****Alec****!" O.C.'s voice whip-lashed through his brain, bringing him abruptly back into himself. He was suddenly very aware of ****Logan**** and ****O.C.**** staring at him in shock. He also realized that he was gripping the partition leading into ****Logan****'s office hard enough to crack the wood. He made a conscious effort to release the wall and cleared his throat, carefully avoiding ****Max****'s eyes.**

**"Umm, hi."**

**They continued to stare at him.**

**"Nice weather we're having." It was ****Seattle****, the weather was customarily crappy, but nobody seemed to notice the lie.**

**"Have a seat ****Alec****." Logan said politely, "Apparently we have quite a few important things to talk about."**

**Taking the long way around the living room, the one that kept him the furthest distance from ****Max****Alec**** eventually edged into a recliner. Slowly, Max sat down in the other one.**

**"****Max**** is in heat." ****Logan**** said bluntly. "What I imagine you're feeling right now is a direct result of that."**

**"Logan, I told you, males don't-"**

**"Let me finish ****Max****. You said that you got the female DNA and ****Alec**** obviously was given the male. What you have to understand is that the male response to a female in heat is just as ingrained on his DNA as is yours." He made sure he had their full attention before continuing on, "Have you ever seen a male cat when he's around a female in heat? Or hell, have you ever seen a male dog when a female dog is in heat? It's all the same. The females are releasing pheromones, specific pheromones that say "Hey, I'm ripe and fertile, baby, come and get me."."**

**Alec**** blinked – those words coming from ****Logan**** were rather disturbing.**

**"When a male breathes in those pheromones and they fit into the right chemical transmitters, then it's suddenly all he can think about. I've seen a male Labrador Retriever tear through a screen door to get to a female who was in heat. It's all instinct."**

**There was a moment of silence.**

**"A rather stupid move on the part of Manticore."****Alec**** muttered.**

**"They probably didn't really count on the whole mating side effect of the DNA slice. The urge to procreate is a difficult thing to control, so it's doubtful that they could have prevented it even if they had tried."**

**"Are you sure about this, ****Logan****?" ****Max**** asked.**

**"Reasonably sure.**** It explains a lot about the two of you and your bewildering behavior the past few days."**

**It was ****O.C.****, as usual, who got to the painful point. "The last time this happened she was all over anything with a dick. But not this time. Is it different 'cause ****Alec****'s around to react to her… whatevers."**

**"Most likely."****Logan**** barley even blinked. "Yes, that makes sense. "This is about more than just sex, it's about procreation. The DNA would recognize a fellow feline transgenic as providing more viable offspring, thereby making anyone else less desirable by comparison." The fact that he was right, didn't make his explanation sound any less like the desperate rationalization of a jealous boyfriend than it was.**

**There was an uncomfortable silence.**

**"But that means that other feline transgenics are a potential threat?" ****Alec**** asked softly, "There's no reason another X-5 wouldn't respond in the same way."**

**"Yes. Luckily since this began we've been meeting outside of TC." ****Logan**** turned to her, "You cannot go anywhere near the city ****Max****, I absolutely forbid it. There's no telling what could happen."**

**Max**** nodded stiffly, the misery plain on her face. "But I still say that we need to do tonight's heist."**

**"No."**

**Some of the fire came back into her eyes and she shot to her feet. "I wasn't _asking_ your permission, ****Logan****. You're acting like we're some uncontrollable animals who are just randomly going to start exchanging body fluids and screwing like rabbits."**

**Alec****'s lips twitched.**

**Max wasn't looking at him, but she whipped her head around anyway, "Shut up, you're not helping."**

**"Sorry, you just painted such an arousing picture." He grinned, feeling eons better now that he knew the reason for his recent discomfort. "She's right Log, now that we know this stuff, it'll be no problem to control."**

**Logan**** and ****O.C.**** exchanged uneasy glances.**

**"Look, watch this." Max walked over and stood next to Alec, her arm brushing his. Electricity sizzled and sparked but they stared calmly at their friends. "See, note the lack of rabid sex."**

**Now it was O.C.'s turn to smile. "****A'ight**** boo. Maybe we over-reacted a little."**

**"Damn right you did." Max quickly stepped away from Alec, idly rubbing the goose-bumps on her arm. "Now, let's get tooled up. I want to be there just after dark."**

**"Hold on a sec." ****Logan**** held up a hand. "You were right when you said that this job was too important to mess up. But just because we concede that you're going, doesn't mean we concede our worries."**

**"Yup."****O.C.**** smiled in her own cat-like way, "We're goin' with you."**

**"This is utterly ridiculous." ****Max**** complained to ****Alec**** hours later. They were laying on their stomachs in the grass, watching Neightly's warehouse through binoculars.**

**"I know."**

**"We're not stupid, out of control teenagers."**

**"I know."**

**"We're highly trained soldiers Goddamnit."**

**"I know."**

**"We wouldn't have lasted a second out in the field if we hadn't learned phenomenal control."**

**"I know."**

**"Are you even listening to me!" ****Max**** hissed.**

**Alec's head whipped around, their noses inches apart. "Are _you_ listening to _me_!? I _said_, I _know_."**

**The sound of their harsh breathing was broken by ****Logan****'s patronizing voice coming from the microphone in both their ears. "Knock it off, you two. What's happening at the warehouse?"**

**"The same thing that's been happening for the past three hours."****Alec**** grumbled. "****Jack**** shit."**

**Max shifted on the ground, careful to keep her body from brushing the one laying so close to hers. Three hours, she thought grimly, three fucking hours of laying here breathing the same air as him. Now that she was fully aware of what was going on with her hormones it was that much more difficult to keep her mind focused. She had thought the opposite would be true – that she'd have better control now that she knew what to fight against. Instead her awareness of him had been heightened to an almost unbearable degree. That along with the constant disembodied presence of their two chaperones was enough to make her regret having insisted on going through with the mission.**

**Not that she would ever admit it aloud.**

**She sighed and shifted places again.**

**"Stop squirming." ****Alec**** said curtly, "You're annoying me."**

**Deliberately Max wiggled again.**

**"Dammit, would you…" He trailed off as he turned his head and again their noses almost brushed. ****Max**** felt her breath catch in her throat as they stared at each other. That thing - that hot, dark thing – flared instantly between them. She leaned forward almost before she was conscious of the movement, her lips brushing his faintly. He didn't move, frozen in place as desire crashed through him. Her lips curved upward in a slight, teasing smile and she deliberately brushed her mouth over his again and then again – light, airy nothing kisses. She felt drunk on the sensations and knowing she had no control over her emotions only made the temptation that much more heady.**

**"Hey!" O.C.'s voice crashed over the airwaves, startling them both into jerking back. "What's with the heavy breathing?"**

**Max licked her lips and stared forward, "Just, uhh, just-"**

**"There's movement on the Northwest side." Alec said briskly, his binoculars at his eyes.**

**Never had Max been more happy to hear of the arrival of terrorists. She raised her own binoculars and peered through. Sure enough, a large truck was lumbering to a stop at the back of the warehouse, several men coming out to meet it.**

**"Better late than never, I suppose." She muttered. "Let's go."**

**As they stood she felt a flash of annoyance when ****Logan**** came back over the line, "Be careful."**

**"Dumbass."****Alec**** muttered as they headed down the hill, and for once ****Max**** didn't have the urge to smack him for it.**

**They moved swiftly and soundlessly through the trees, coming up behind the truck. The men never even saw them coming – one minute they were rolling the back door of the truck up and the next darkness was rolling over their eyes.**

**The fifteen men surrounding the truck were dispatched with almost no effort. ****Max**** looked at the bodies laying on the ground with something like disgust – there hadn't even been much of a challenge.**

**"I'll drive." Alec said softly, heading towards the drivers side. "With any luck we can get this out of here before the rest of them realize anything's wrong."**

**"I think not." ****Max**** followed close on his heels. "The-"**

**He stopped so suddenly that she ran into his back before she could stop herself. His free hand came back automatically to steady her, his long fingers curling around the back of her thigh. Max exhaled sharply into his sweater, her fingers curling briefly into his sides.**

**"Movement ahead."**** He breathed.**

**"Mm-hmm."**** She took a deep breath, inhaling his scent.**

**"****Jesus****Max****." His fingers tightened on her leg and his voice sounded strangled. It took a major effort of will, but she stepped back, breaking the contact between them. She moved to stand next to him, her eyes closing in on the figures walking towards them. It was with a start that she recognized ****Sheena**** and the two X5's she'd chosen to drive the truck.**

**"What's she doing here?" She demanded in a low voice.**

**"She wanted to help." ****Jay**** said with a shrug. ****Sheena**** smiled her smoky smile and pivoted on one foot while sweeping her hair off her neck.**

**"Well, I'll be damned." ****Alec**** said admiringly. "****O.C.****'s**** got herself an X5."**

**"We'll chat later." Max said darkly, "Right now you three get this thing out of here, and make it quick."**

**Her**** and ****Alec**** watched as they started the truck up and headed slowly back up the hill. Jay was driving, with Sheena and Annie riding shotgun, both armed to the teeth.**

**"You didn't tell me you had backup coming." ****Alec**** said. To the casual observer his voice would have sounded conversational; but ****Max**** rolled her shoulders uneasily.**

**"If you had showed up in the morning like I asked, then-"**

**"Don't give me that bullshit, ****Max****. You know as well as I do that one of the first rules of field engagement is that information that could harm your soldiers is never held back."**

**"You're the last person on earth who should be lecturing about responsible behavior, pretty boy. So stuff it."**

**"What are we doing here? If they were coming anyway then they could have handled the entire job, it's been a piece of cake so far."**

**"We're here to ensure that they have a clean get away. This is too important to be trusted to anybody other than us and the last thing we need is to be followed or recognized. We're stealing from **_**Cass**_**_Neightly_****Alec****, or have you forgotten that? There can be no possible way for him to learn who we are. So we stay, watch their back, and make sure they get out cleanly."**

**He was silent for a moment. "You still should have told me they were coming."**

**Max**** didn't know what it was about that statement – probably the faintly sulky thread underlining it – but a sudden smile broke across her features. She turned her head to look at him in the dark, he was staring moodily after the truck, and a wave of unexpected affection swept through her.**

**"You're right." She said evenly, "I should have told you."**

**His head whipped around and the look of utter shock in his face turned her smile into a grin.**

**"Did you just admit you were wrong?" He demanded incredulously.**

**"I did nothing of the sort." She struggled to tame the grin, "And I'll deny it to the death."**

**He stared wonderingly down into sparkling chocolate eyes. The lighthearted teasing was so out of place in her and yet at the same time it was strangely characteristic. There was no tension in her body, she stood with her hands in her pockets and laughter in her eyes. Alec wasn't sure, but he thought that maybe, just maybe, he was getting a glimpse at ****Max**** with her guard down.**

**"Well, then I'll just have to get it on tape next time." He cleared his throat when it came out rusty, "I could sell viewings of it around TC and make a hefty profit."**

**"Who says they'll be a next time, bub? We're talking a once in a lifetime occurrence."**

**"Are we done here?" The impatient voice of ****Logan**** came in loudly through their ears. ****Alec**** resisted the urge to jump in surprise – he'd completely forgotten about their silent audience.**

**Max's**** grin disappeared. "Yes. We're on our way back to you."**

**TBC**


	4. Chapter Four

**A/N: An NC-17 rated version of this chapter can be found at Nuns With Pens, where my pen name is Sarah ) Yes, I lost my smut virginity... **

**Chapter 4 - Inevitable**

**"Well, here's to a job well done, guys." Sketchy raised his mug of pale beer. "And to more guns and new friends."**

**The last was directed with a leer to ****Sheena****, who merely lifted an amused eyebrow.**

**"Yeah, very new friends."**** Alec leaned back in his chair, "With new secrets."**

**She shrugged without guilt. "I wanted to check out the scene before making any kind of commitments. As I'm sure can be said for all of us - I'm not without enemies."**

**" 'Shore**** explains some things about your stamina." Original ****Cindy**** said slyly.**

**Sketchy choked on his beer.**

**"Well, as amusing as all this is, I've got to get home." ****Logan**** stood, "I'm exhausted."**

**"Yeah, us too."****O.C.**** leaned over and gave ****Sheena**** a kiss. "I want to see how Max is feeling."**

**"If she's asleep, let her sleep, for God's sake." ****Logan**** pulled on his jacket. "The sooner this is all over, the better. Do you need a ride back to your apartment?" The question was directed at O.C.**

**"If you're going my way, that'd be great."**

**"Mind if I tag along?" ****Sheena**** asked, sliding her arm though ****O.C.****'s**** and smiling suggestively.**

**"I'm surprised you have to ask."**

**Logan**** rolled his eyes as they gazed at each other and leaned in for a kiss. Relationships were astonishingly annoying to people outside of them. "I have to make a quick stop to see ****Dr.****Carr****, if you don't mind."**

**"Not at all."**** They followed him out the front door and towards Bessie. "We can ask him if there's an antidote we can give ****Max**** and ****Alec****. Or I'd even settle for some cyanide."**

**Alec prowled the rooms of his apartment, tension radiating off of him as he moved. He'd been practically crawling the walls the past hour. It was a little better without direct contact to ****Max****, when she couldn't stimulate him chemically. But with that first, initial scent of her, something primal had been turned on in his brain. He knew she was out there, knew what she wanted, and he knew he could give it to her. Give it to her better than anyone else.**

**"****Jesus****, listen to yourself." He muttered, jumping up and grabbing onto the doorjamb with his fingertips. He crossed his ankles and started the pull-ups slowly, forcing the muscles to tense with control, and thereby using up more energy. _One, two, three, four_…**

**What if ****O.C.**** couldn't keep her in their apartment? What if she was out there, right now, on the loose.**

**… _eight__, nine, ten_…**

**Who knew what she'd end up doing and regretting. What if she hurt herself or someone else?**

**… _fifteen__, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen…_**

**The pull-ups were fast and furious now but his breath hadn't even begun to be labored.**

**… _twenty-one__, twenty-two_…**

**At this very moment she could be underneath some scrawny, wimpy, slobbering kid with acne who couldn't even begin to satisfy her. On second thought, knowing ****Max****, Weak Boy was probably underneath her. She was probably riding him like a prize stallion, all that long dark hair cascading over her bare shoulders, sweat gleaming on her golden skin, her lips slightly parted and her eyes closed in bliss…**

**Alec's groan was soul deep and he launched his body forward, landing easily in front of the bar. He poured and downed six shots of ****Jack****Daniels**** in rapid succession before he finally felt warmth beginning to spread through his system. It was times like these, when he wanted to get so shit-faced he couldn't see straight, that he cursed being a transgenic. Of course, he thought, throwing himself into a chair, if he wasn't a transgenic then he wouldn't be having his current feline difficulties and wouldn't want to get shit-faced anyway. The principal however, remained.**

**He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the back of the recliner. Why was he resisting this anyway? Why was he holed up in his apartment doing pull-ups and downing whiskey like it was water? Why didn't he just walk over to Max's apartment, assuming she was even there, lock O.C. in the bathroom and have his wicked, wicked way with a very willing Max.**

**A slow smile curled his lips.**

**He could just saunter in there, restrain ****O.C.**** easily without hurting her, and stick a sock in her mouth. Then he'd walk into ****Max****'s bedroom and, not even acknowledging her look of surprise, push her up against the wall and kiss her the way he'd been wanting to kiss her for the past year. Slow and thorough, seeking out every crevice in her mouth, getting her taste down to perfection-**

**_The past year!_**** Alec jerked up, opening his eyes and swearing. The past year, indeed. Hah! The only thing he'd been wanting to do for the past year was give her a good smack-down. He took a long swig straight from the bottle. These chemicals must be messing with his logic now, because no one in their right mind would actually want to kiss that heinous bitch if they weren't being affected by biological agents beyond their control.**

**He slammed the whiskey bottle down on the table and bolted up out of the chair. That was it. He was going for a walk. A long, cold walk that would clear his head – he was obviously going stir crazy. A long term attraction to ****Max****, indeed.**

**Dr. Carr smiled when he looked up to see Logan, ****O.C.**** and ****Sheena**** standing in the doorway to his office.**

**"****Logan****." He rose and shook hands with the other man. "Good to see you. You as well, Original ****Cindy****."**

**"You're looking well doctor." ****O.C.**** shook his hand and introduced ****Sheena**

**"I assume you're here for ****Max****'s blood tests." ****Dr.****Carr**** went back to his desk and shuffled through several folders. "Unfortunately I don't have much to report. My theories about a cure for the virus were all pretty much shut down." He handed ****Logan**** several sheets of paper.**

**"Well, we weren't really hoping for much." ****Logan**** glanced them over.**

**"I did find some interesting synthetic markers on her T-Cells though. There's a couple of possibilities with cloning her body's own defense system to work in yours."**

**O.C.**** smiled. "Thinkin' outside the box Doc. Good for you."**

**"I know ****Max**** hates it, but if you wouldn't mind sending her in for some more blood work in the next couple of days, I'd appreciate it."**

**Max**** shoved her hands deeper into her jacket pockets and hunched her shoulders. It was so freaking cold she was having trouble believing that anyone without genetic enhancements would survive it. She glanced at the street name and then back behind her. She was only a block away from ****Joshua****'s house and so far everything was fine. She hadn't run into a male X5 yet, but she was feeling good and steady, a feeling she never felt while in heat.**

**Joshua's apartment was dark when she walked in the front door, but she expected that. He wasn't due back for another day, but there was no reason he couldn't come home to a freshly stocked refrigerator. She grimaced as she unloaded the bag of groceries, it really spoke of her state of mind that she was worried about housekeeping at two in the morning. This thing with ****Alec**** had really gotten to her. Now that it was over she wouldn't have to worry about uncontrollable hormone urges, but the fact that she had been feeling them at all was disturbing. It wasn't so much that she had found him attractive, of course he was gorgeous, it wasn't ever anything she hadn't admitted; it was the realization of how undiscerning her body was. Sex with ****Alec****!? Whom she didn't even _like_!? It was ludicrous, it was unthinkable, it was… it was…**

**Her thoughts trailed off as the door opened and a tall figure stepped in. He flicked the lights on, illuminating the hallway and kitchen. He looked down the hall at her in surprise, "****Max****. What are you doing here."**

**_Oh, God_****. She could feel her pulse throbbing in her neck, feel the blood rushing through her veins. It was supposed to be gone, this wasn't supposed to be happening.**

**"Just… uhh… just filling the fridge."**** She motioned to her right, "For, you know, for ****Joshua**** when he gets back."**

**Alec**** slowly finished closing the door. "You shouldn't be out right now." His eyes never left her, but to his credit he didn't move any closer.**

**"It's gone." She whispered, feeling her stomach cramp with longing.**

**"It is?" His voice was nearly as low as hers.**

**"I thought it was."**

**They stared down the hall at each other. The silence became a thriving, living entity that surrounded them. It breathed and hissed of the possibilities. An empty house. No one would know. Nobody had to know. It could all end right now. All this tension. All this desire. All this hurting could be over.**

**"I should go." His breath was strangled as he fought the overwhelming instinct to move. His brain was shouting for him to leave, shouting and threatening as only rational reason, that knew it was going to lose, could.**

**"Yeah."**

**In the end it was simple. As all capitulations are. There is never so satisfying a relief as the dropping of a heavy, deep-rooted burden.**

**They met in the middle of the hall in a whirlwind of motion. She leaped, quite literally, at him and he caught her in midair, using her momentum to spin them around and pin her to the wall. Her hands grasped impatient fistfuls of his hair and held his head still as she kissed him like a ten-year recovering alcoholic falling gloriously off the wagon.**

**"No problem." Logan said absently, his eyes on the papers. "I'll see if she can come in first thing tomorrow."**

**"I don't know if it'll affect your tests, but ****Max**** is in heat right now." O.C. said, cocking her head, "You might want to wait until next week."**

**"Oh, that's right." ****Logan**** lifted his head, blinking. "We should probably wait until-"**

**"I'm afraid you're mistaken." ****Dr. Carr's ****eyes twinkled, "Or ****Max**** is pulling one over on you. She's not in heat."**

**"No, honestly."****O.C.**** said quickly. "We were shocked too, but her and ****Alec**** have this whole weird cat fight thing goin' on right now. It's miserable. We were gonna ask you if there was something we could give 'em to cool 'em down 'till it's over."**

**Dr. Carr's**** smile faded. "No, I assure you ****Max**** is nowhere near heat. It's not physically possible. I was working with a blood sample less than a week old. If she were going into heat anytime within the _month_, I would have seen skyrocketing amounts of estrogen and progesterone."**

**There was a long moment of silence as two blank faces stared first at him and then at each other.**

**"That doesn't make any sense." ****Logan****'s eyebrows almost met in the middle of his forehead. "Her and ****Alec**** have been acting like… I don't even know how to describe it… like cats in heat."**

**"Her and **_**Alec**_**?"****Dr. Carr**** asked skeptically. "If she was truly in heat then it wouldn't just be with one male that she was having a reaction too. It would be all males."**

**"But ****Alec**** is a fellow X5…"**

**Dr. Carr ****was already shaking his head. "Doesn't matter. When it comes to reproducing the only thing our bodies are selective about is species. Instincts don't care about things like advanced DNA sequencing, they just want progeny who will carry on the codes."**

**"Then something must be wrong." ****Logan**** and ****O.C.**** shared a worried look.**

**"Maybe something's backfiring in their DNA." ****O.C.**** said hurriedly. "We've gotta find 'em and tell-"**

**Sheena's low, sexy laugh interrupted their conference. "For such brains ya'll can be really dense sometimes."**

**O.C. turned around, "What are you talkin' about?"**

**"****Jesus**** fricken ****Christ****!"****Sheena**** threw up her hands and laughed again. "You're all making it so complicated. It's not Manticore's gene sequencing, it's not radical hormones being strangely selective, it's not the virus, it's not an alien parasite that's taken over their bodies. It's as old time! It's plain, good old fashioned _attraction_!"**

**The only thing she got for her explanation was three uncomprehending stares.**

**"Oh, for crying out loud."**** She rolled her eyes and propped her hands on her hips. "You know? Lust. Chemistry. Magnetism. Desire. Fascination. Albeit reluctant fascination in the case of those two."**

**O.C. shook her head, trying to clear it of the insane image her girlfriend had just created. "Honey, you don't know ****Max**** and ****Alec**** like we do. They're can't go five minutes without clashing. When their just in the same _room_ it's like… " Her voice slowly trailed off.**

**"Like someone just turned it on."****Sheena**** finished ironically. "From the first moment I was with them I could feel it. They've been incredibly stressed lately, more so than is probably healthy, even for an X5. It makes sense that all that _incredible_ sexual tension would finally build to something that neither of them can control." She smiled gently, watching the mixture of disbelief, horror and, in ****Logan****'s case, pain. "This end was inevitable."**

**Max**** wasn't sure when they had made it too the bed. She was having trouble thinking of anything but the immediate and splendid present. She could barley breathe, couldn't see anything beyond the vibrant colors of wild emotions that had been too long suppressed. There was too much happening inside her, too much that hadn't been anticipated nor wanted nor even seen for so long.**

**Alec****'s head lifted and he levered himself up so that he was staring down at her. His eyes were on fire with emerald flames, glittering as his hair fell around his face. She stared into them, felt the length of his body pressed along hers and the fever that it aroused.**

**She _wanted_. She wanted so badly, so much she didn't even know where to begin unraveling the threads inside her, the aching of things she would never be able to understand in herself, let alone to put them into words to ask for them. Everything was rising to the surface, building in an area that couldn't possibly be large enough to contain them all. They were suffocating her, clouding her sight and her judgment, masking motivation and true desire. She couldn't articulate what she was looking for and suddenly didn't know if she could trust what she was feeling.**

**Then his head lowered. His eyes never left hers. And his mouth touched hers. Gently. Not like the first kiss. Not like the first ten kisses. There was no urgency in this one; nothing frantic or desperate. Just touch. Just contact. And comfort, strangely enough. It was simple… and therefore profound.**

**She'd known before that she wanted. Now she had a name for what she wanted. This. _This._ She lifted her hand and her fingers sank into the soft hair at the back of his neck. She wanted this and everything that went with it. She wanted it like she had never known it was possible to want something. Consequences didn't matter here, such a cerebral worry was almost crass at such a time. This was satisfying a craving of the soul - nothing else was relevant...**

**No words had been exchanged in the ten minutes since The Deed had been Done. The silence was getting heavy.**

**Laying**** with his arm draped across his eyes, ****Alec**** had a sudden, mental, aerial picture of the room. He on his back, half under the covers. Max on her side, her back to him. They were not touching. There was not a sound. He couldn't even hear her breathe.**

**If this were a movie there would be a dolly-out shot, he thought. The cameral would slowly draw back to take in the whole bed. It would stop, there would be no music. And then the image would shatter.**

**Everything would shatter.**

**TBC**


	5. Chapter Five

**Chapter 5 – Happy Endings**

**Alec stared at the ceiling, emotions ricocheting through him. She was regretting it, he knew she was. Laying as far from him as possible, not speaking, not moving, she was trying to disappear into the bedcovers. Any minute now she was going to get up, and break the unbearable silence by gathering her clothes and leaving. It was just like her to run after something like this, too much of a coward to take responsibility for her actions. Well, he didn't regret it, he thought rebelliously, getting more and more angry as he thought about it. And he wasn't going to let her get away with leaving and pretending nothing had ever happened.**

**He sat up abruptly, fully intending to confront her. He leaned over her, "Max…"**

**His voice trailed off.**

**She was sound asleep.**

**A fist was curled loosely on her pillow, one knee wrapped around the sheets, and an uncharacteristically peaceful look on her face.**

**Alec stared at her in astonishment. She was sleeping. She wasn't tense and uncomfortable. She wasn't regretting – at least not yet – she was… just asleep.**

**"Huh." He laid back down thoughtfully. **

When Alec woke up the next morning Max was gone.

He stared, somewhat blankly, at the other side of the bed. For a long, horrible moment he wondered if he'd dreamed it. All three times of it.

**He sat up slowly, noting the imprint her head had left in the pillow and the fact that the covers had been neatly smoothed on her side. No, she had definitely been here.**

**He let out an explosive breath and ran a hand down his face. Well, at least there was going to be no awkward morning after conversations. Was he expected to go into work today and pretend that nothing had happened? If he knew Max, that was exactly what he was supposed to do.**

**Fuck.**

**As soon as the front door opened, Original Cindy was out of her chair and across the room, "Where the _hell_ have you been!" She bellowed. "I've been up all night worried sick..." O.C. trailed off as she caught sight of Max - disheveled, red-eyed and fairly radiating guilt.**

**"Oh, my God." O. C. breathed. "You did it with Alec."**

**Something lost and frightened came into Max's face. "It was the heat." She whispered. The words had a well-worn sound to them, as if she had been repeating them over and over again.**

**O.C. stared at her best friend, for once in her life at a complete loss of words.**

**"We can talk in a minute." Max said, looking strangely shaky. "Right now I really need a shower."**

**She moved with a deliberate slowness, like someone who had been in an earthquake and was afraid the world would start shaking again any second. O.C. watched her in silence, stunned by the frailty that surrounded the normally indomitable Max. She put her bag and helmet down and disappeared into the bedroom.**

**"I can smell him everywhere on me." She made the remark absently, as if she wasn't aware she was speaking out loud.**

**O.C. closed her eyes. _What to do, what to do_...**

**Could Max handle know that she hadn't been in heat? But could O.C. really keep something so monumental from her. Everyone knew – Sketchy, Sheena, Logan. There was no way Max and Alec couldn't find out.**

**O.C. tapped a fingernail against her lips thoughtfully and started making tea. Maybe this new, uncertain Max wasn't such a bad thing. Maybe what the girl needed was to get her world messed up a little, make her start thinking and re-prioritizing. Once she had to face the fact that she was explosively attracted to Alec, things could start to progress in the natural way that these things tend too.**

**She waited until Max was sitting down, sipping a warm cup of tea, before carefully explaining the detour trip and the tests that Dr. Carr had performed.**

**"How is any of this relevant to anything?" Max asked irritably, blowing on the cup she was holding.**

**"Max." O.C.'s voice was infinitely gentle. "Honey, Dr. Carr had seen your estrogen levels for this month. He said you're not in heat. You're nowhere near heat."**

**The silence was horrified. Deafening. Apocalyptic.**

**"That's impossible." Max's voice was suffocated. "O.C. that's _impossible_. You saw, you saw how we were..."**

**"Yeah, I did. We all did. And when he first told us we started thinking that something was really wrong. Then Sheena laughed in our faces and told us how obvious it was that you and Alec were crazy about each other."**

**"_She's_ the one who's crazy," Max began, raising her voice. But O.C. cut her off, shaking her head, keeping her voice soft.**

**"Max, stop. Just _stop_. And think for a minute. She saw it better than the rest of us because she has an objective point of view. And as soon as the words were out of her mouth, it made sense. It made a shocking kind of sense to all of us. It's there Max, I can see it."**

**Max's head was down, her chin tucked against her neck, her damp hair hiding her face. "You don't understand." She whispered.**

**"What don't I understand?"**

**"It was... I didn't..." She tried to laugh but it came out a breathy, half-sob. Her voice was so low O.C. had to lean in. "Last night, if you had given me a choice between him and air... I would have chosen to never breathe again. It had to be something that wasn't me. It _had_ to be. I'm not... I'm not capable of feeling so-so _much_."**

**O.C. heard something in Max's voice that she had never heard before. A depth of desperation that made her wonder if things had progressed farther than she'd thought. She stared at the dark head of the girl she knew best in the world. The next question, she thought, had to be presented very, very carefully.**

"Max, I want you to think about something." She said slowly, lifting up her friends chin until their eyes met. Max's were opaque with the storm of emotion rioting around in her. "Don't react, just consider. Is it possible, just possible, you might be falling in love with Alec?"

**Max's pupils dilated and O.C. braced herself for the explosion. It came in a way she wasn't expecting. Max Guevara - kicker of ass extraordinaire, genetically engineered soldier – burst into tears.**

**O.C. felt her mouth drop open even as sympathetic tears rose in her own eyes. She wrapped her arms tightly around her friend as words poured out of Max, punctuated by sobs.**

**"This morning, this morning when I woke up and opened my eyes and saw him laying there and he was so perfect and gorgeous and I wanted him to wake up and smile at me and tease me and irritate me and kiss me and I wanted to stay there and never get up and then I thought about all the mornings I was going to wake up and he wouldn't be there and it was the-it was the mosthorriblefeelingeverandmystomachfeltsick..."**

**O.C. couldn't decide if she was horrified or delighted by the outpouring of emotion. She had never seen Max like this, hadn't been certain that she was _capable_ of it. It's just an emotional version of last night, she thought, last night they couldn't keep it in check any longer and today she's still feeling that overspill.**

**She murmured incoherent words of comfort, stroking her hair unconsciously, as one would a child. O.C. closed her eyes and rested her cheek against the top of Max's head. _Please_, she prayed silently to her friend, _please don't shrug this off tomorrow_.**

**Alec slammed his locker shut, enjoying the satisfying clang. He tightened the gloves on his hands almost ruthlessly and stomped outside.**

**It had been two days since the night of his and Max's little encounter, two days with absolutely no sign that she still existed. She had called in sick both days, providing Normal with even more crap to moan about. O.C. wasn't any better, she wasn't even trying to pretend that she wasn't avoiding him.**

**"Talk to Max." She would say, heading hurriedly in the other direction, every time he approached her.**

**His mood had only progressed in the downward direction in those two days. He couldn't manage to wrap himself in his usual charming devil-may-care smile and instead found himself snapping at everyone around him.**

**"Snap out of it." He growled to himself, walking into the ally where his bike was chained. If he didn't get a grip soon then he'd find himself without a job or any friends. He thought often of just leaving. Getting out before Max did show up and break his heart.**

**_Break his heart_****? Alec stopped short. Where had that thought come from. As if she had such power. As if he had such feelings. What utter, complete rubbish.**

**He shook his head and continued walking, only to stop abruptly again when he saw who was leaning against the wall next to his bike. Said heart leapt first into his throat and then down into his stomach, leaving him strangely lightheaded.**

**"Max." It was more than a greeting.**

**Her eyes were locked on his and he had the sudden, insane urge to walk up to her and bury his face in her hair, breathing her in. It wasn't as urgent as it had been the past few days, but the craving to touch her was still very much present.**

**Then her appearance finally registered and concern made his mind sharpen again.**

**"Are you alright?" He studied her shadowed eyes and pale skin. "You look like you've been battling White." It was more than just her features though, there was something different about the look in her eyes. An ember that was starting to glow.**

**"No." A ghost of a smile crossed her lips, "Not battling White. Someone worse. Myself."**

**Before he could puzzle through that enigmatic statement she leaned back against the wall and stared at the ground. "There's something you should know. Dr. Carr's been studying my blood. He said that I'm not in heat, that I'm not even anywhere close to having another cycle."**

**Alec stared at her, wondering if he'd heard her wrong. "Not in... how is that possible Max?"**

**She took a deep breath and raised her eyes back to his. "Well. There seem to be a theory about that." She pushed away from the wall so that they were only a few inches apart. "In the interest of science we should probably test it out."**

**And then she did the last thing he would have ever expected her to do. She leaned up on her toes, grabbed the lapels of his leather jacket and kissed him.**

**Heat and magnetism flared instantly, surrounding them in a warm bubble. It was a slow kiss, tentative and awed. Alec felt her hands on his face, stroking with a gentleness that made his chest hurt. He pulled her closer, loving the way she fit into him.**

**He anchored an arm around her rear and lifted her against him; her legs wrapped instinctively around his waist. She opened her mouth, fingers curling into his hair and gripping. He deepened the kiss – it had been two days since he'd last tasted her, it felt like years.**

**They finally eased apart and when he could focus again, Alec realized that her lashes were damp. He kissed each eye gently. "What's wrong?"**

**She shook her head and buried her face in his neck. Her voice was raw with wonder when she spoke.**

**"I'm so stupid. It was you. It's always been you."**

**The End**


End file.
